How is Nintendo successful?

[Dirty Hipsters]

Do they really? The GameCube was outsold by the Xbox, and the Wii U was outsold by the Xbox One.

But Nintendo has never had a console that had a failure rate as astronomically high as the xbox 360.

Seriously, have you ever seen an original 20 gig white Xbox 360 that never red ringed? That's all you need to know about Microsoft's track record with console hardware.

 

[BrawlMan]

But Nintendo has never had a console that had a failure rate as astronomically high as the xbox 360.

Seriously, have you ever seen an original 20 gig white Xbox 360 that never red ringed? That's all you need to know about Microsoft's track record with console hardware.

Exactly. More 360s have died than PS3s or Wiis. Ironically, my first Wii died due to a power outage. Turns out it was defective. Thankfully, I was able to get a new one in exchange at target within the same week.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Do they really? The GameCube was outsold by the Xbox, and the Wii U was outsold by the Xbox One.

Dirty Hipsters beat me to it, but yes they definitely do. I still have all of my original Nintendo consoles and they all still work. That much cannot be said for my Xbox 360. If your console has a 23-54% failure rate then you are without a doubt bad at making consoles. That's not even considering the other issues with the 360. I've never had another console carve rings into my discs like the 360 did.

Maybe they haven't always been on the top of the chart for selling consoles, but at least they are well made.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

They own Pokemon.

 

[BrawlMan]

That's not even considering the other issues with the 360. I've never had another console carve rings into my discs like the 360 did.

My original 360 did the same thing, but only to copies of DMC4 and nothing else. I traded it in for a refurbished 360 Elite at my old local GS. I never told them that tiny detail though.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Dirty Hipsters beat me to it, but yes they definitely do. I still have all of my original Nintendo consoles and they all still work. That much cannot be said for my Xbox 360. If your console has a 23-54% failure rate then you are without a doubt bad at making consoles. That's not even considering the other issues with the 360. I've never had another console carve rings into my discs like the 360 did.

Maybe they haven't always been on the top of the chart for selling consoles, but at least they are well made.

A most telling excerpt from that link -

On July 5, 2007, Peter Moore, the Vice President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division published an open letter recognizing the console's problems, as well as announcing a three-year warranty from the original date of purchase for every Xbox 360 console that experiences the "general hardware failure" indicated by three flashing red LEDs on the console.[20] A source that has been identified as a team leader and key architect in the creation of the Xbox and Xbox 360 and a founding member of the Xbox team[21][22] provided insight as to the high rate of failures. The interviews suggest that Xbox 360 units that fail early in their life do so because of problems in the system design, parts supply, material reliability, and manufacturing issues as well as a system not tolerant to faults. These issues were alleged to be the end results of the decisions of management in Microsoft's Xbox team and inadequate testing resources prior to the console's release. A second source cited that, at one time, there was just a 32% yield of one of the test production runs. 68 of every 100 test units were found to be defective.[23]

Years after leaving Microsoft, Moore recalled preparing to tell then CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, of his planned response to the incident, "we've got to tell Steve, here's what we have to do: we need to FedEx an empty box to a customer who had a problem - they would call us up - with a FedEx return label to send your box, and then we would FedEx it back to them and fix it. ... I always remember $240m of that was FedEx. ... It was sickening. I was doing a lot of interviews. ... We couldn't figure it out. ... There was a theory. We had changed our solder, which is the way you put the GPU and the fans, to lead-free. ... We think it was somehow the heat coming off the GPU was drying out some of the solder, and it wasn't the normal stuff we'd used, because we had to meet European Standards and take the lead out. ... He said, 'what's it going to cost?' I remember taking a deep breath, looking at Robbie, and saying, 'we think it's $1.15bn, Steve.' He said, 'do it.' There was no hesitation. ... If we hadn't made that decision there and then, and tried to fudge over this problem, then the Xbox brand and Xbox One wouldn't exist today."[24]

 

[BrawlMan]

A most telling excerpt from that link -

On July 5, 2007, Peter Moore, the Vice President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division published an open letter recognizing the console's problems, as well as announcing a three-year warranty from the original date of purchase for every Xbox 360 console that experiences the "general hardware failure" indicated by three flashing red LEDs on the console.[20] A source that has been identified as a team leader and key architect in the creation of the Xbox and Xbox 360 and a founding member of the Xbox team[21][22] provided insight as to the high rate of failures. The interviews suggest that Xbox 360 units that fail early in their life do so because of problems in the system design, parts supply, material reliability, and manufacturing issues as well as a system not tolerant to faults. These issues were alleged to be the end results of the decisions of management in Microsoft's Xbox team and inadequate testing resources prior to the console's release. A second source cited that, at one time, there was just a 32% yield of one of the test production runs. 68 of every 100 test units were found to be defective.[23]

Years after leaving Microsoft, Moore recalled preparing to tell then CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, of his planned response to the incident, "we've got to tell Steve, here's what we have to do: we need to FedEx an empty box to a customer who had a problem - they would call us up - with a FedEx return label to send your box, and then we would FedEx it back to them and fix it. ... I always remember $240m of that was FedEx. ... It was sickening. I was doing a lot of interviews. ... We couldn't figure it out. ... There was a theory. We had changed our solder, which is the way you put the GPU and the fans, to lead-free. ... We think it was somehow the heat coming off the GPU was drying out some of the solder, and it wasn't the normal stuff we'd used, because we had to meet European Standards and take the lead out. ... He said, 'what's it going to cost?' I remember taking a deep breath, looking at Robbie, and saying, 'we think it's $1.15bn, Steve.' He said, 'do it.' There was no hesitation. ... If we hadn't made that decision there and then, and tried to fudge over this problem, then the Xbox brand and Xbox One wouldn't exist today."[24]

​

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Being the first to figure out that, for example, bridging the gap between home console and handheld is an idea that would probably sell well. I mean, it's no secret that they have a problem with third party support because of their underpowered hardware but they keep finding niches waiting to be filled. The Switch, especially, has the big advantage of letting you play indie games on a handheld.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Art direction and data compression
Old Nintendo games look better than old "realistic" games, and Nintendo is one of only a few developers that didn't buy into the idea that they didn't need to fine tune their programs because "storage with always expand"

Breath of the Wild weighs in at 13.5 Gigabytes
Block Ops Cold War is over 200

Being able to render Aloy's peach fuzz is a neat technical achievement, I guess, but it's not worth that

 

[Gordon_4]

Art direction and data compression
Old Nintendo games look better than old "realistic" games, and Nintendo is one of only a few developers that didn't buy into the idea that they didn't need to fine tune their programs because "storage with always expand"

Breath of the Wild weighs in at 13.5 Gigabytes
Block Ops Cold War is over 200

Being able to render Aloy's peach fuzz is a neat technical achievement, I guess, but it's not worth that

Horizon Zero Dawn is like, <70GB. Not saying you don't make a good point. You certainly do.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Horizon Zero Dawn is like, <70GB. Not saying you don't make a good point. You certainly do.

The peach fuzz thing is gonna be in Forbidden West. I'd be shocked if that's south of 100

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

The peach fuzz thing is gonna be in Forbidden West. I'd be shocked if that's south of 100

The thing is some weird technology on the PS5 actually mean they can, and have been, making game files smaller. Probably something to do with the SSD, but pretty much every PS4 game with a separate PS5 version is smaller compared to the PS4 file. I do not feel comfortable defending a faceless corporation though, just stating observations from recent experience.

 

[BrawlMan]

The thing is some weird technology on the PS5 actually mean they can, and have been, making game files smaller. Probably something to do with the SSD, but pretty much every PS4 game with a separate PS5 version is smaller compared to the PS4 file. I do not feel comfortable defending a faceless corporation though, just stating observations from recent experience.

You're not defending anybody, you are just stating actual facts. It's true that Sony sought to make smaller file sizes for their new console. Ain't nothing you can do to change that.

 

[gorfias]

Other than Virtual Boy and Wii U, no.

Wii U is pretty well made from what I can tell. I don't really collect for the Wii U. I figure when the "controller" dies, it is dead. Just enjoy it for what it is. Not even close to my favorite of Gen 8 but it only cost $300 back in the day, no monthly fees. It just sits there on the TV and allows me to play some Pikmin 3 or Zelda, etc. on occasion. Not a bad little device to have around.

The Switch is the 1st Nintendo console I've skipped going back to 1986ish when I got the NES. I just haven't finished enough of the Wii U games to move on. Mario Kart Wii U and others still play plenty well.

The switch's real claim to fame? Take it and go or connect to the TV. That's something Sony could have done with the Vita years ago and for some reason, did not.

 

[BrawlMan]

Wii U is pretty well made from what I can tell. I don't really collect for the Wii U.

I mean in terms of sales in the Wii U's case. I even gave compliments for what it achieve. My main problem with the console is once I got the games I wanted, it just sat there and collected dust. I would occasionally power it on, but I would not be playing for too long. Once the Switch came out, I traded in my Wii U for it in 2018. And like correctly guessed, a majority of the Wii U games either went to Switch, Gen 8 consoles, PC, or all of the above (and they all run and perform better and have more features). My Switch has gotten way more use than the Wii U. I have no regrets.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Art direction and data compression
Old Nintendo games look better than old "realistic" games, and Nintendo is one of only a few developers that didn't buy into the idea that they didn't need to fine tune their programs because "storage with always expand"

Breath of the Wild weighs in at 13.5 Gigabytes
Block Ops Cold War is over 200

Being able to render Aloy's peach fuzz is a neat technical achievement, I guess, but it's not worth that

That's not exactly impressive on Nintendo's part.

The reason their games are so small is because they're essentially Xbox 360/PS3 era games in terms of specs and performance. Pretty simple textures, no HD graphics, and a lot of NIntendo games don't even have voice acting, so sound files take up a lot less space.

Nintendo aren't amazing at data compression or anything like that, they're literally just making games with less overall data.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Nintendo aren't amazing at data compression or anything like that, they're literally just making games with less overall data.

This is true. However, Nintendo also adheres to "art style > visual fidelity", and quite often it's paid off for them.

 

[Drathnoxis]

A most telling excerpt from that link -

On July 5, 2007, Peter Moore, the Vice President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division published an open letter recognizing the console's problems, as well as announcing a three-year warranty from the original date of purchase for every Xbox 360 console that experiences the "general hardware failure" indicated by three flashing red LEDs on the console.[20] A source that has been identified as a team leader and key architect in the creation of the Xbox and Xbox 360 and a founding member of the Xbox team[21][22] provided insight as to the high rate of failures. The interviews suggest that Xbox 360 units that fail early in their life do so because of problems in the system design, parts supply, material reliability, and manufacturing issues as well as a system not tolerant to faults. These issues were alleged to be the end results of the decisions of management in Microsoft's Xbox team and inadequate testing resources prior to the console's release. A second source cited that, at one time, there was just a 32% yield of one of the test production runs. 68 of every 100 test units were found to be defective.[23]

Years after leaving Microsoft, Moore recalled preparing to tell then CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, of his planned response to the incident, "we've got to tell Steve, here's what we have to do: we need to FedEx an empty box to a customer who had a problem - they would call us up - with a FedEx return label to send your box, and then we would FedEx it back to them and fix it. ... I always remember $240m of that was FedEx. ... It was sickening. I was doing a lot of interviews. ... We couldn't figure it out. ... There was a theory. We had changed our solder, which is the way you put the GPU and the fans, to lead-free. ... We think it was somehow the heat coming off the GPU was drying out some of the solder, and it wasn't the normal stuff we'd used, because we had to meet European Standards and take the lead out. ... He said, 'what's it going to cost?' I remember taking a deep breath, looking at Robbie, and saying, 'we think it's $1.15bn, Steve.' He said, 'do it.' There was no hesitation. ... If we hadn't made that decision there and then, and tried to fudge over this problem, then the Xbox brand and Xbox One wouldn't exist today."[24]

And mine red ringed just outside that 3 year warranty. So yeah, I'm bitter at Microsoft.

 

[EvilRoy]

I look at it as the difference between coffee from Mcdonalds and coffee from an expensive corner cafe. You can get MDs coffee damn near anywhere and its basically fine. Even failing that there are a dozen things on the menu so if the coffee isn't up to your standards so chances are you'll find something you like. The cafe on the other hand really only makes a few things at a higher price, but they do those things very well. If you like coffee then you'll like their coffee much more than MDs.

So basically, Microsoft/Sony/PC do a huge amount of stuff. There is good stuff in there, but there's also mounds of crap to sift through - you'll find something you like, eventually, and potentially cheaply but it won't necessarily be easy to do outside of the feature menu items. Nintendo on the other hand only does a few things, but they do them very well. If you like the stuff they do, then its worth the investment even if there aren't as many choices to enjoy.

 

[gorfias]

I mean in terms of sales in the Wii U's case. I even gave compliments for what it achieve. My main problem with the console is once I got the games I wanted, it just sat there and collected dust. I would occasionally power it on, but I would not be playing for too long. Once the Switch came out, I traded in my Wii U for it in 2018. And like correctly guessed, a majority of the Wii U games either went to Switch, Gen 8 consoles, PC, or all of the above (and they all run and perform better and have more features). My Switch has gotten way more use than the Wii U. I have no regrets.

Convincing.
I have some good 3rd party controllers for the Wii U. Do you know if they'll work on the Switch? EDIT: Says Wii controllers will work: https://techdevised.com/can-you-use-wii-controllers-on-nintendo-switch/
I'm thinking of giving the kit and kaboodle to a budy that may make use of it and get myself the Switch. As it is portable, I may actually get some use out of it. (Kid moved back in and took over the room my Wii U is in. I may not even see it again for 2 years or so ;-)